Sega's startling reveal of Sonic the Hedgehog 4 has also put the spotlight on the speedy character mascot's past adventures, and as part of ongoing reminiscence over at the 1UP.com network of blogs, the Retronauts crew has put together a look back at the Sonic the Hedgehog games you didn't get to play.  Sonic's lost adventures are lined up one after the next with brief looks at titles including Sonic Jr., the tech demo that would become Knuckles Chaotix, the infamous Sonic X-Treme, Sister Sonic, and a few unnamed Genesis-era concepts.

Sonic the Hedgehog (PC version)

Back when the original Sonic the Hedgehog was under development, Sega licensed software house U.S. Gold to port the game to home computers. We're not sure why the project never materialized, nor do we know how far the project went. The screenshots above allegedly come from the Amiga version, though ZX Specrum, Commodore 64, Amstrad CPC and Atari ST versions were also announced.

Early concepts and tech demos always look a little rough, but I'm not so sure we missed out on anything here.  Considering some of the subpar Sonic games that did complete development and make it to the market — Sonic Labyrinth, Sonic Blast, and Sonic the Hedgehog Genesis, to name a few — you have to wonder how little faith Sega management had in a Commodore 64 version of their flagship title.